What happened today six years ago?
Many people probably don’t remember, but The Asahi Shimbun published a story on Feb. 9, 2017, about the sale of government-owned land in Osaka Prefecture to an educational corporation.
The sales price was undisclosed but was believed to be one-10th that of comparable neighborhood properties.
It was the first of a long string of reports concerning what came to be known as the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.
Six years on, the truth remains buried, with numerous questions still unanswered.
What led to an opaque discount of a whopping 800 million yen ($6.11 million) on state-owned land? Why, and how, did the Finance Ministry falsify official documents?
“The possibility is not zero that it was a Finance Ministry plot to trip me up,” former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was killed last year, is quoted as saying in “Abe Shinzo Kaikoroku,” a recently published book based on his past interviews.
On the alteration of documents, Abe said, “The eyes of the prime minister’s office do not extend that far.”
He also asked: “Even assuming that bureaucrats did what they did to ingratiate themselves with me, how could I have known what they were thinking and doing?”
It was almost tantamount to placing the entire blame on bureaucrats and portraying himself as the innocent victim. I was stunned.
The prime minister is the head of the administration.
Asked why he did not take the initiative to look into the matter, Abe said, “Perhaps I could have set up an investigative organ.”
The frivolity of his words is beyond belief. A Finance Ministry bureaucrat ended up taking his own life, as Abe surely knew.
I would like to renew my demand that the government reinvestigate the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida previously said, “The issue requires further explanation.”
Please don’t tell me you have forgotten.
Nobuhisa Sagawa, who at the time headed the Finance Ministry’s Financial Bureau in charge of managing state properties, has maintained complete silence.
Yesterday, I visited Toyonaka in Osaka Prefecture to look at the state-owned land where Moritomo Gakuen planned to open an elementary school.
The lot, which no one is using, was overgrown with weeds that rustled in the wind.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 9
* * *
Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
VOX POPULI: Abe’s words in new book make a mockery of state land sale scandal
What happened today six years ago?
Many people probably don’t remember, but The Asahi Shimbun published a story on Feb. 9, 2017, about the sale of government-owned land in Osaka Prefecture to an educational corporation.
The sales price was undisclosed but was believed to be one-10th that of comparable neighborhood properties.
It was the first of a long string of reports concerning what came to be known as the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.
Six years on, the truth remains buried, with numerous questions still unanswered.
What led to an opaque discount of a whopping 800 million yen ($6.11 million) on state-owned land? Why, and how, did the........
© The Asahi Shimbun
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Yara Hawari
Patrick Gathara
Andrew Mitrovica
Marwan Bishara
Hipolitus Wangge
Tafi Mhaka
Julie Bindel
Jan Egeland
Fisayo Soyombo
